New Books and Media

From the back cover: Telepathy our Lost Sense tells the wonderful story of how we communicate with another person by sending or receiving a "thought message". Many people have telepathic abilities but there has been great fear, misunderstanding, and persecution of such people over the centuries leading to the loss of this sense from our human repertoire. Surprisingly, eighty percent of my patients had received or sent such a message to another. Thus began my quest to find an answer to how this occurs. The reader is taken on a gentle journey through our electrical bodies, our magnetic sense, brain-computer-interfacing, neuroscience and research conducted for the CIA interwoven with the experiences of these ordinary people. Modern neuroscience has revealed that our electrical and magnetic brainwaves carry information within our brain generating thoughts and actions.

Review by Gregory M. Westlake.

From the publisher's website: After an injury threatened his chances of signing a professional baseball contract, R. Alan Streett sought help from Olga Worrall, a world-famous psychic healer. This encounter set in motion his lifelong search for the origin and nature of psychic phenomena. Were they natural or supernatural? From God, or from the devil? Were they mentalists’ tricks, or feats of the subconscious mind? Streett invites us to join him in real time as he explores the fascinating world of the paranormal, offering insights into healing, magic, trance channeling, yogic meditation, alternative medicine, astral projection, and the brain’s ability to produce spiritual and mystical experiences. 

Further information at the publisher's website: Eerdmans

Review by Gregory M. Westlake.

From the publisher's website: A cacophonous cabinet of curiosities, gathering other musics channeled from the spirit world, the fairy kingdom, outer space, secret societies and occult lodges. Compiled by musician, historian and archivist Doug Skinner, this unique collection of esoteric earworms gathers, and examines, music from other worlds. Notation is also included for several tunes so that you can play along at home. Over eight themed essays you’ll find tunes hummed, strummed, and sung by spirits, sprites and fairies, extraterrestrial elevator music, dreamed ditties, marches for occult ceremonies, secret musical codes and languages, music made by animals, and more.

Further information at the publisher's website: Strange Attractor Press.

Review by Melvyn Willin.

From the publisher's website: In his latest book, One Big Box of 'Paranormal Tricks’? From Ghosts to Poltergeists to the Theory of Just One Paranormal Power, John Fraser reflects on his motivations for involvement in paranormal research from an early age, recalling his experiences to date, the people who have influenced him, and the conclusions he's come to. Whilst Fraser refers to events in his life, this book is not a memoir or 'life story' in any conventional sense. It's presented as a meditation on what the paranormal might mean for us in our universal quest to give our lives meaning. One Big Box of 'Paranormal Tricks’? takes more of a zen-and-the-art-of-spending-a-night-in-a-haunted-house approach than an autobiographical one.

Further information at the publisher's website: 6th Books. 

Review by Nemo C, Mörck.

From the publisher's website: As heard on Radio 4’s Free Thinking Henri Bergson, the French philosopher who defined individual creativity and transformed twentieth-century thought. At the dawn of the twentieth century, Henri Bergson became the most famous philosopher on earth. Where prior thinkers sketched out a predictable universe, he asserted the transformative power of consciousness and creativity. An international celebrity, he made headlines around the world debating luminaries like Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein about free will and time. The vision of creative evolution and freedom he presented was so disruptive that the New York Times branded him “the most dangerous man in the world.” In the first English-language biography of Bergson, Emily Herring traces how his celebration of the time-bending uniqueness of individual experience struck a chord with those shaken by modern technological and social change. Bergson captivated a society in flux like no other. Long after he faded from public view, his insights into memory, time, joy and creativity continue to shape our perceptions to this day. Herald of a Restless World is an electrifying portrait of a singular intellect.

Further information at the publisher's website: Basic Books.

Review by Gary Lachman.

From the publisher's website: Quotidian Tales is unique selection of short fictional stories based on real paranormal behaviours such as, remote viewing, psychokinesis, after death communication, energy healing, precognition, near-death-experiences, and telepathy. Each story provides a humorous and heartwarming insight into the paranormal informed by scientific research which is outlined in the 'Notes' section. Anyone interested in the mind, sprit and the nature of consciousness will find this book fun, informative and enlightening.

Review by Gregory M. Westlake.

From the publisher's website: For longer than recorded history there have been tales of spirits and of places where our hackles rise and our skin turns cold. Bestselling historian Neil Oliver travels the British Isles on a deliciously spine-chilling tour that spans several centuries and explores more than 20 sites - castles, vicarages and towers, lonely shorelines and forgotten battlefields - to unpick their stories.. Oliver invokes his family's history alongside that of kings and queens past as he probes why our emotions and senses are heightened in certain locations where the separation between dimensions seems gossamer thin. Our landscape is riven with these places, creaking from the weight of the secrets they hold, the echoes of tragedy and dark deeds . From Inverness to Devon, Co Dublin to Norfolk, Hauntings casts an enjoyably eerie glow with stories that, told generation after generation, are inextricable from place - and considers why they matter.

Further information at the publisher's website: Transworld.

Review by Ashley Knibb.

From the publisher's website: Alejandro Parra nos invita a un viaje fascinante a través del mundo de los médiums y la diversidad de experiencias espirituales. En esta obra pionera, el autor explora con rigor y sensibilidad las vidas y relatos de videntes de diferentes épocas y culturas, desentrañando los misterios de la comunicación con lo inmaterial. Abordando las dimensiones psicológicas, transpersonales, históricas y clínicas de la mediumnidad, ofreciendo una perspectiva comprensiva y accesible tanto para expertos como para legos. Desde las primeras formas de contacto intangible en la infancia hasta los relatos de sensitivos excepcionales que han influido en la sociedad, este libro es una lectura obligada para aquellos que buscan entender uno de los enigmas más profundos del ser humano.

Further information at the publisher's website: Editorial Almuzara.

Reviewy by Roberto R. Narváez.

From the publisher's website: Paranormal expert Theresa Cheung shares 101 of the most mysterious and spooky true stories of hauntings from around the world together with the latest afterlife science and research, providing fascinating insight into our never-ending love affair with ghosts. Belief in ghosts is surprisingly common worldwide. Mysterious glowing orbs, unexplained chills, things that literally go bump in the night: signs of paranormal activity have reportedly surged during the pandemic. As have specialist investigators, organised ghost hunts, eerie podcasts, TV shows and reports of everyday hauntings.

Further information at the publisher's website: Michael O'Mara.

Review by Peter A. McCue.

From the publisher's website: A History of Ghosts, Spirits and the Supernatural charts the extraordinary narrative of one of the most fascinating and controversial subjects in the world, covering everything from Neolithic ancestor worship and ancient necromancy to modern-day ghost-hunting and creepypasta tales and from the Japanese onryo to the La Llorona of Latin America. The perfect introduction to the subject, this spellbinding volume details the numerous ways in which spirits and the spirit world have been depicted in myth and religion, folklore, art, and literature.

Further information at the publisher's website: DK.

From the publisher's website: A number of converts to Buddhism report paranormal experiences. Their accounts describe psychic abilities like clairvoyance and precognition, out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, and encounters with other beings such as ghosts and deities, and they often interpret these events through a specifically Buddhist lens. This book is a groundbreaking exploration of these phenomena and their implications for both humanistic and scientific study of the paranormal.

Further information at the publisher's website: Columbia University Press.

From the publisher's website: Possessed by curiosity, paranormal investigator Richard Estep hunts down firsthand experiences and historic accounts of the most legendary demonic activity. He consults with experts ranging from a medical doctor to an ordained Catholic exorcist on cases like the Salem Witch Trials and the inspiration for The Exorcist. He also visits several sites of alleged demonic infestations, such as the Monroe House. With the facts at your fingertips, you can determine the truth for yourself.

Further information at the publisher's website: Llewellyn.

Review by Nemo C. Mörck.